The Adventures Of The Girl Who Lived
by R.T. Mosby
Summary: She always believed she was just an ordinary girl until the day she turned eleven. That was the day her life changed forever. She learnt that she was a witch and one of the most famous witches in modern times as well. Why? Because she is the girl who lived.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter one **

It was New Years Eve, 1926. The sky was covered in dark storm clouds and the wind was blistering cold. The heavens bucketed down with tiny pure white particles of ice that swirled in the howling gales outside the Wool's orphanage. The clock had just stuck eleven pm but not everyone in the orphanage was asleep. The only people still awake were the two matrons, Mary Clayton and Katherine Cole. Mary was born in 1898. She was a small plump woman with frizzy dirty blonde hair that she knotted into a messy bun on her chubby round head. She had worked in the orphanage for over ten years while Katherine Cole had just started to work there at the age of 18. Cole was lanky and pale skinned. Hair short and bland, the only distinctive feature she had were her storm grey eyes which never seemed more appropriate for nasty winter night like that one.

Both Mary and Katherine worked the night watch. They took different ends of the orphanage to check if there were any kids out of bed. Cole was down the east wing hall way when she heard an eerie bang that echoed through the tile covered walls. At first she believed the sound to just be the storm that raged outside the orphanage. But when the sound happened again Cole knew that the eerie bangs were actually desperate knocks. She quickly walked towards the main entrance of the orphanage to find that Mary had got there first. Mary helped a young woman up on to her feet. When the girl got back on to her feet Cole could see a large baby bump that looked ready to pop. The sound of the girl's agonized scream broke Cole from her rude and unwelcome stare.

"Cole! Would you stop bloody staring at the poor girl and get the damn door!" Shouted Mary.

That was when Cole realised the front door was wide open and it let the snowy wind blow right into the orphanage. She promptly slammed the enormous black oak wood door shut and helped Mary carry the girl who was about to give birth. They brought the pregnant girl into an empty room. The room wasn't anything special but it would do for the child the girl was about to push out. When they sat the girl down on the uncomfortable hard bed, Mary dashed out to the room in a hurry in search of warm towels for the birth.

Cole began to stare at the girl again in worry and fright not only for the girl but herself. She'd never delivered a baby before or even been around a pregnant woman. Her own mother had died when she was young and she had no siblings. But she was pretty sure she wasn't as frightened as the girl in pain on the bed. The girl stirred a lot in an act to try to get comfortable. Cole walked up to the bed and sat down.

"Here, let me help you." Said Cole. The girl became still and Cole could then move the weirdly angled pillows up right so the girl could lie back comfortably.

"If you don't mind me asking Miss but what is your name?" Asked Cole.

"My name is Merope. Merope...Riddle." She said through gasped painful breaths.

Merope Riddle in Cole's eyes looked no older than herself. She had long lank dull hair and a heavy paled skinned face to match. Her lifeless miss matched eyes stared in opposite directions. Merope looked sick and defeated, but mostly in pain. Mary ran back in the cold dreary room and the birth began.

Merope screamed and cried and begged and pushed. And within less than an hour she had given birth to a beautiful baby boy. He didn't cry, not once. The three women were all scared he might have been still born but he was alive and completely silent. Cole cleaned the baby from the blood that came along with the birth and handed him over to his weak and deathly pale mother.

"I want you to name him Tom after his father and Marvolo after mine. Tom Marvolo Riddle." Said Merope. She handed her baby back to Cole and touched his also pale cheek. Tom reached out in want of his mothers touch.

"I hope he looks like his papa." Merope said sadly. Merope didn't say another word after that and she didn't even hold her child who craved his mother. She later died within the same hour.

"Did the girl name the boy before she passed?" Asked Mary when she came to collect the blood stained towels and sheets.

"Yes. Merope named him Tom." Said Cole with him still in her arms.

"Good. It will safe us the trouble." And without another word Mary walked out the room like nothing had happened. Suddenly Cole heard noises that came from outside. Twelve noises to be exact. The clock had just stuck twelve. It was 1927.

"Happy New Year, Tom Marvolo Riddle." Cole whispered. 'What an odd name' she thought.

Tom just stared up at her with his haunting coal-black eyes. He didn't even blink. Katherine Cole shivered but she knew it wasn't because of the cold winter night.

* * *

><p>It was another wet and rainy day in London, England. Outside the Wool's orphanage walls the sky was a gloomy grey and the sun could not be seen. The orphanage was as grim as the weather. The Wool's orphanage was built out of black and grey bricks and the square building was surrounded by forbidding high metal rails. Inside the orphanage it was all tiles and metal. The place was run-down but pristine. The matrons took pride in their tidiness. The Wool's orphanage had housed many different orphans over the years since it opened but none were more different than the boy who was born on New Year's Eve, 1926.<p>

In one of rooms in the orphanage was sat the seven year old boy named Tom. He had lived in the orphanage his whole life, Mrs Cole had even said he was born there but that didn't make him hate it any less. Tom was sat on his hard grey blanket covered bed with pencils and paper. Tom had drawn this a thousand times. It was like a seared in memory but it wasn't from a memory. It was from the dreams he had every night. It was the person from his dreams. Tom finished it and looked down at his work. He smirked in a sinister way. It was her. The girl from his dreams. The girl with raven hair and bright green eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Lily and James Potter were proud to say they were anything but normal. James potter was born on the 27th of March, 1960. He was a pure blood wizard who came from an old and wealthy family. He was tall strong but agile, the prefect body needed to be a good chaser. James had raven black hair and bright hazel eyes. He had a habit to ruffle his raven locks to make it even untidier. A habit Lily secretly loved. If she ever told him that it would only boost his already inflamed ego.

Lily on the other hand was a sweet and an uncommonly kind woman. She had a gift of seeing good in those that couldn't even see it in themselves. Lily may have been a muggle born but she was a brilliantly talented witch. She was head girl in her seventh year with her husband as head boy. She had dark red hair which was the colour of blood and vivid apple green eyes which glistened in the light.

When Lily and James finished Hogwarts they married, with Sirius Black as best man. After their wedding in the summer of 1978 they joined the Order of the phoenix along with their school friends, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. The order of the Phoenix was a secret society founded by Albus Dumbledore to oppose Lord Voldemort and his huge number of death eaters. Lord Voldemort was a very powerful dark wizard that returned to England from abroad to start his evil campaign to take over the ministry of magic and to persecute innocent muggle borns just because they weren't magical.

The world around the Potter's was getting darker and darker by each day that passed but Lily Potter had some extraordinary but unexpected news to tell her clueless husband. It was a beautiful autumn day in 1979. Lily stared outside at the yellow, orange and red leafs that fell down from the withered tree branches. The soft fall wind picked up the crumpled leafs and blew them to the already leaf covered ground. The sky was a whirlwind of autumn colours that twisted and danced together. It was a lovely sight indeed. Lily sighed, for her it was peaceful and calming. It made her mind wander back to simpler time. A better time where those she loved and cared about weren't hunted down and killed by death eaters.

Lily's life had changed dramatically over the past year and a half. She married the man she loved, she became a full time member of the Order along with her husband and she defied the powerful dark wizard who had an army of evil followers by his side. And within less than a year from that moment Lily and her very much beloved husband's lives would change again but forever.

Lily walked into the room were James was sat with the latest issue of the daily prophet. His eyes were crinkled together and he had a frown painted across his face. Whatever was in the daily prophet it wasn't good news. It never was any more. News in the daily prophet was just more murders on innocent muggles or witches and wizard who refused to join Lord Voldemort. Every time Lily would hear or read about muggles that were murdered her heart would break. She worried for her own muggle family that she hardly ever spoke to. But right now she was mostly worried about her growing family.

"James." Said Lily.

"Hmm..." He replied without even a look from his read. She looked at him impatiently.

"James, I need to tell you something." He sensed from her tone and behaviour it was important so he looked up.

"What is it Lily?" He asked. She sat down next to him and took his rough hands within her own small gentle ones.

"I have some news. I'm... pregnant." Said Lily. James look utterly shocked. After a while of his silence Lily started to panic.

"James? Are you okay? Are you angry? Look I know this is soon but-" James interrupted her.

"What? I'm not angry, I could never be angry. This is the most amazing day ever. There's going to be a mini us running around. Oh Lily!" James hugged her in a tight embrace.

"But don't you think it's a bit too soon. And everything with the Order and you know who. This isn't the sort of world I want to raise our child in." Said Lily. James cupped her face with his rough hands and looked deeply into her green almond shaped eyes which he loved with all his heart.

"Listen to me; I will protect you and our unborn child. Even from Voldemort himself if I need to. Nobody will take you or out baby away. I promise. Now let's please stop worrying for once. This is a happy day, okay?" Said James. Lily smiled with happy tears on her cheeks.

"I love you, James." Said Lily.

"And I love you, lily. Forever." And they kissed their worry away but soon this happy bliss would not stay and all would remain would be broken promises.

* * *

><p>The Hog's head was a small, very dirty and dingy inn. It had tiny bay windows so coated in filth that there was no point calling them windows. The place was filled with rough broken wooden tables that had only the stubs of burnt and used candles. It was hard to light a candle and keep the flame alight because of the lack of fresh air ventilation. The air inside the Hog's head was dense and it smelt of animals and dead bugs. It was so dirty that the once lovely stone floor looked as if the inn was just built on open ground. Overall the Hog's head was a run-down and a completely unattractive place. The Hog's head was located in the all wizarding village of Hogsmeade.<p>

It was early January 1980 and it was a bitter and soggy day in the village of Hogsmeade. In a room above the bar in the Hog's head were sat Albus Dumbledore and Sybill Trelawney. Albus Dumbledore the head master of Hogwarts School of witch craft and wizardry was there to see an applicant for the post of the divination teacher. The applicant was Sybill Trelawney the great-great granddaughter of Cassandra Trelawney the famous and celebrated seer. And Dumbledore only agreed to the meeting because of Sybill ancestry.

During their meeting Sybill displayed none of Cassandra's famous divinatory skills. Dumbledore was disappointed but not surprised as no one since Cassandra in the Trelawney family had possessed the second sight. After their meeting Dumbledore politely told Sybill that she wasn't quite right for the position and they said their farewells, but seconds later Sybill entered in a real trance state. Her eyes glazed over and when she spoke it was in a croaky demonic way.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...born to those who have thrice defied him, born with raven hair and bright green eyes as the seventh month dies...and the Dark Lord will mark her as his equal but she will have power he knows not...She will either join him, destroy him or die...Both cannot live if they are on different paths...One will then die at the hands of another...the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..." Said Sybill Trelawney.

Dumbledore looked dumbfound and oddly hopeful but inside he remembered something a young boy once told him. What Dumbledore would soon later discover was that he wasn't the only one who heard Sybill Trelawney's astonishing prophecy.

* * *

><p>Lily and James potter were the happiest they had ever been. Within the darkest and despair they had found happiness in each other and their unborn child. It was now mid January 1980. The leafy autumn and snowy winter had passed and all they had now were the chilly and showery days. Lily was over three months pregnant and her belly was swelled with the life that grew within her. She was sat in a cosy living room next to a fire that she lit with her own 10 ¼ inch willow wand. She tenderly stroked her small clothed baby bump.<p>

"Your daddy and I cannot wait to meet you. You're going to be the best witch or wizard the world will ever see one day. I just know it." Said Lily. James walked in the room and smiled when he saw his wife.

"You're talking to the baby again, aren't you?" Said James.

"Yes, I am and there's nothing wrong with it either." Said Lily.

"I didn't say there was anything wrong with it but you get to talk to the baby all the time. I want to have a go." James sat down on the floor next to lily so he could cradle her stomach.

"When you're born we will have so much fun. I'll teach you how to fly. You'll be the best Quidditch player in Hogwarts. I've even got you your own broom." Said James.

"What do you mean you've got a broom? Our child hasn't even been born yet." Said Lily angrily.

"Don't you worry, it's a toy broom and our child will have the best flying teacher there is. Me."

"You?" Lily said amused.

"Yes, me. And maybe one day our baby will be as good as me...maybe."

"Anyone can be as good as you, James. You haven't really set the bar very high. "

"Hey!" Said James.

"I'm only teasing you." They both laughed at their funny exchange then something interrupted their joyful moment.

The blazing stone fireplace they were sat next to started to burn an unnatural colour. The once warm yellow and orange flames were now an emerald green that looked a lot like the colour of lily's eyes. The floo network was in use. The bright green flames evaporated and a body could be made out. A tall skinny man with a long silver beard. It was Albus Dumbledore.

"Professor Dumbledore? What are you doing here?" Asked James.

"James my boy you don't need to call me professor anymore. You're no longer a student at Hogwarts." Said Dumbledore.

"Oh...Right but what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at Hogwarts?" Said James.

"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't of importance." Said Dumbledore.

"What has happened?" Asked Lily. Dumbledore went to sit down across from the nervous potter's.

"Earlier this month I met with a descended of Cassandra Trelawney, the seer. And she made a prophecy I believe to be very true." Said Dumbledore.

"A prophecy? Why are you telling us this?" Asked James confused.

"Because the prophecy is about a baby with raven hair and bright green eyes born at the end of July." Dumbledore looked at lily's eyes when he spoke. Both potters looked at each other alarmed.

"W-what did this prophecy say?" Asked Lily.

"The prophecy said 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...born to those who have thrice defied him, born with raven hair and bright green eyes as the seventh month dies...and the Dark Lord will mark her as his equal but she will have power he knows not...She will either join him, destroy him or die..Both cannot live if they are on different paths...One will then die at the hands of another...the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...'"

The potter's sat in disbelief and silence. Lily grabbed James's hand and didn't let go. "No...No! This prophecy can't be about our baby. We don't even know if it's a girl yet." Cried Lily.

"She's right and there must be hundreds of girls due to be born in July." Said James.

"Yes there must be but there are only two couples with babies due in July who have defied Voldemort three times, you and the Longbottoms. " Said Dumbledore sadly.

"Does Voldemort know about the Prophecy, Dumbledore?" Asked James.

"Unfortunately yes, he does. When Sybill Trelawney made the prophecy we were being spied on by a death eater." Said Dumbledore. Lily clutched onto James and began to cry. He rubbed her back and tried to soothe her. James then focused on Dumbledore through his wife's long blood red hair.

"What will you have us do, Dumbledore?" Asked James.

"You will go into hiding because if Voldemort believes even for one second that your child could be his down fall he will kill you all."

* * *

><p>Lily potter gave birth on the 31st of July 1980. The last day of July. <em>"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...<em>" The words of that dreaded prophecy were now the potter's future. But right now they tried to focus on their beautiful bundle of joy. Lily and James were sat on a small but soft bed with their new born daughter cradled in Lily's arms. Lily looks exhausted but she felt so full of life with her baby in her arms. James looked down at his wife and daughter with delight and astonishment.

'How the hell did I get so lucky.' He thought. He scooted over and kissed his family's foreheads. At that very moment James best friend Sirius Black wandered into the room with a silly grin on his face.

"Congratulation!-Wait I probably shouldn't say that yet, I don't know if the baby has got your ugly mug, Prongs." Said Sirius.

"Get over here, you silly git." Said James.

"Hey, mind your language around the baby." Scolded Lily. The two best friends shared a look and smirked.

"Would you like to hold her?" Lily asked Sirius.

"Seriously?" Asked Sirius with that silly grin again.

"Yes seriously, Sirius." Chuckled Lily. She handed him the passed out baby. Sirius gazed down at the tiny baby of his best friends in awe.

"She's beautiful. I have no idea how you're the father James." Joked Sirius. The new born woke from her little catnap. Her wide forest green eyes looked up at Sirius's grey ones in curiosity.

"She has your eyes Lily." Said Sirius.

"But she has my hair. Look" Said James with his hand at the ravens tufts on her small fragile head.

"You're lucky that's all she got from you Prongs." Joked Sirius.

"Funny." Said James sarcastically.

"What's her name?" Asked Sirius. Lily spoke first.

"Annora James Potter."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

After the birth of Annora, the Potter's went back into hiding for the danger was not yet gone, the danger had just begun. The Potter's fled to the sleepy village of Godric's Hollow in the West Country. It was a small village with only a church, a post office and a pub. The old thatched roof cottages stood either side of the long church lane road which made its way up the church itself. From the church you could see the golden glimmer of the streetlights that indicated the heart of the village. Godric's Hollow had harboured many famous witches and wizards over the years, from Albus Dumbledore to Bathilda Bagshot, the author of _a history of magic_. Godric's Hollow was also famed as the birthplace of Godric Gryffindor. And soon Godric's Hollow would have another name to add to the list of famous witches and wizard who once lived there.

It was now November 1980 and the Potter's were sat in their cosy cottage with daughter and their best friend. These few moments of happy bliss were never taken lightly as they rarely ever happened any more. The Potters thoughts mainly consisted of their daughters safety, the order and Voldemort. And when those happy moments came they were welcomed with open arms. Sirius Black was sat on the floor next to Annora Potter who was silent as she gazed up at him.

"Come on Nori say Sirius. Sirius." Coaxed Sirius. Annora lay there unresponsive to his persuasion.

"I think Annora is one of the only girls in the world that can resist your persuasion, Padfoot." Laughed James.

"She will say my name... eventually." Replied Sirius.

"She's not going to say your bloody name Sirius. She's three months old and if she's going to say any ones name it'll be mine. I am her favourite." Said James.

"Please, she'll be saying my name first. I'm her mother," Said Lily as she picked up her baby with smile. Annora gurgled and grasped her mother's dark hair red in her tiny hands. "See she loves me."

"I don't think anyone could resist loving you, Lily." Said James. He walked to her and kissed her passionately. Sirius made a grossed out face.

"Really guys?! Right in front me and Nori." Said Sirius.

They both mumbled out a not so sorry "Sorry." Sirius got up and took Annora out of Lily's arms.

"Come on Nori; let's get out of here before your parents start making baby number two." Said Sirius.

"Oh! Sirius there's something James and I want to tell you," Said Lily. He nodded. "We want you to be Annora's godfather." Sirius looked stunned.

"What? Me? Why me?" Asked Sirius.

"You're my best mate Sirius." James simply said.

"And we know if something happens to James and I you'll take care of Annora." Added Lily.

"Nothing will happen to you guys." Said Sirius.

"You don't know that for sure Padfoot." Said James

"No. Nothing will happen. You'll all be one big happy family. He won't find you. We made sure of that. Nori here needs you two."

* * *

><p>Months had passed by and the Potter's were still safe and hidden away in the village of Godric's Hollow. The reason they were safe was because they were protected by the fidelius charm. The fidelius charm was an extremely difficulty spell that is used to conceal a secret inside in an individual soul, the witch or wizard who knows the secret is then the secret keeper. The location that is protected by the spell is then invisible. It's an extremely old spell, one of the most ancient of all. With a location then protected by the fidelius charm it is impossible to find but useless if the secret keeper chooses to divulge the location. And so far the Potter's secret keeper had not chosen to reveal their most important secret. They were safe but not anymore.<p>

It was the night of Halloween 1981. It seemed to be a night like any other but this night would go down in history. Lily and James were with their daughter in the living room. Annora who was now one and an half years old was the perfect mix of her parents. She had Lily's nose, lips and eye colour but she had inherited James's hair colour and his wide shaped eyes. Annora's hair was as dark as James's but as wavy and long as Lily's and her eyes were a brilliant green. She was her parents in mini form. James was sat on the sofa with an issue of the daily prophet and Lily was next to Annora who played with her wooden alphabet blocks.

"Mama. Mama! Lookie here." Said Annora with her tiny pale hand pointed at her wooden blocks. The three blocks she had spelt out _Tom._

"_Tom_," Read Lily confused. "Annora Honey, who's Tom? You don't know a Tom." Said Lily.

"Tom. Tom. Tom..." Said Annora happily.

"Who's T-," Lily stopped as she and James heard the front door open. "James Who's that?" Lily asked quietly.

"Stay here with Annora." Said James. He walked gently to the front door. Seconds later Lily's worst nightmare came to life.

"LILY RUN! IT'S HIM! TAKE ANNORA AND RUN! NOW! GO! IT'S HIM!" Shouted James.

Panic and fear hit Lily like a train. She seized Annora in her arms and ran for her daughter's life. Lily ran up the stairs and to the end of the hall way to Annora's nursery. She opened the nursery door and slammed it shut. She locked it but knew no wooden door would stop Voldemort from getting to the person he'd searched for almost two years. Lily placed Annora in her crib. Annora looked up at her mother's green eyes and saw tears.

"Annora," Said Lily sorrowfully. "Mama and dada love you, so much. Be brave my love. Be brave Annora."

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Bellowed a dark and powerful voice. 'James! No! Oh god No!' Lily thought.

"Dada?" Said Annora innocently. She got no answer as Lily heard footsteps outside the nursery. Lily's kissed her daughters forehead one finial time.

"I love you. I'm sorry." Said Lily then the white timber door flew off its hinges to the other side of the room. Lily stood in front of Annora protectively.

A dark cloaked figure stepped into the room. He was tall, very tall; He looked to be about 6 ft 4 maybe taller. The hood of his cloak didn't cover his entire face. He was dark haired and paled skinned. He didn't have the face of a monster, he looked human.

"Move. You don't need to die. I only want the girl." He spoke in a dark ominous tone.

"No! You won't have her. Not my Annora please! Kill me instead! Please not my baby!" Cried Lily.

"Move. Now! This is my last warning."

"No. Please not my Annora. She's just a baby, she doesn't deserve this. Please don't kill my baby. I'll do anything. Please not Annora!"

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" There was a blaze of green light that filled the nursery and Lily's excruciated scream rang out. After the light faded Lily fell to the floor dead. Annora saw her mother and began to cry.

"Mama!" Voldemort stepped over Annora's dead mother with his eyes set on his prize.

"Shhhhh little one don't cry. It'll all be over soon." Said Voldemort. He stroked her pale cheek and wiped away her tears. Annora stopped her tears at his touch and looked straight at his dark disturbing eyes.

"Bright green eyes..." He whispered as if he was lost in a memory long since forgotten.

"Tom." Smiled Annora. He was taken aback momentarily but he broken from his thoughts and smirked wickedly. He eyes twisted in to a scarlet red colour. These were the eyes of a monster.

"Goodbye, Annora Potter," Said Voldemort. "AVADA KEDAVRA!" The green blaze of light returned but it didn't kill Annora. The killing curse just rebounded and hit Voldemort. The green blaze of light was now a firestorm of rays that shook the house. And then there was nothing, the light was gone, Voldemort was gone and Annora's family was gone. The nursery was trashed and Annora's crib was in pieces. Annora crawled to her mother in fright.

"Mama!" Cried Annora. She clutched Lily's dark red hair and called for her again and again. Lily hair was fanned out on the floor and her once vivid green eyes stared up at nothing. Annora crawled closer to her mother and fell asleep next to her warm dead body.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

It was a dull and grey morning in Privet drive. Privet drive was a road located in the village of Little Whinging, Surrey. And on this ordinary looking road lived the family called the Dursley's. They were as normal as any other family that lived on Privet drive. Or that's at least what they made people believe. Vernon Dursley was a big burly man with a bushy moustache. He had dark thick hair and a large ugly purple face with hardly any neck. He was a bully and had zero tolerance for people who were different from himself. Like his wife he had an obsession to appear normal to the outside world. Petunia Dursley was a thin blonde haired woman who looked like a horse in human form. She was unfriendly, meddlesome and mean spirited much like the rest of her family. And their son was just as dreadful as the two of them. Dudley Dursley was only one and half years old and already overweight for his age. He had his mother's pale blue eyes and blonde hair. He was an obnoxious and spoiled child. The Dursley weren't very nice people but yet they had almost everything they wanted. They may have appeared to be normal but from the inside they had a secret. A secret they hid with their lives. They couldn't bear to think what the neighbours would say if the Potter's came to visit. It wasn't long ago that the Dursley's found out that the Potter's had a daughter around the same time Dudley was born. That was another reason the Dursley's didn't want the Potter's around, they didn't want their son to be around a child like that.

November 1st 1981 was a typical Tuesday and Vernon Dursley was getting ready for work at the firm called Grunnings, which made drills. Petunia Dursley was with the screaming Dudley who refused to sit in his high chair for breakfast. At half past eight, Vernon got into his car and left number four Privet drive. Just as he was leaving the road he noticed something bizarre from the corner of his eye. A cat reading a map. He twisted his chubby short neck around to look again but saw no reading cat. It was just a normal looking tabby cat with no map. He was just seeing things or it was a trick of the light, that was all. Nothing strange or out of the ordinary. The cat stared right back at him as he turned the corner. As he drove he forgot all about the cat until he got stuck in his usual morning traffic jam. He became aware of lots of people who were dressed in a funny way. The people were wearing weirdly coloured cloaks and robes with tall pointed hats. They looked to be chatting about something exciting. 'Stupid weirdoes' He thought.

The traffic moved on and he shortly arrived at Grunnings. With his mind on work, he didn't have another thought on reading cats or weirdoes in silly hats. Vernon had a good normal day and was in a good mood until he went outside to buy a bun for lunch. He saw more funny dressed people with the ridiculous cloaks and hats. This crowd were also whispering excitedly and when he walked pass them he could hear a little bit of their conversation.

"Did you hear what happened to the Potters?"

"Yes, their daughter, Annora-"

"I heard that as well. Do you really think it's true?"

Vernon stopped walking and stood in fear and shock. He then rushed back up to his office on the ninth floor to call his wife. But he put the phone down when he was just about to call her and thought better not to worry his wife. He was being as stupid as the people wearing the cloaks. Potter wasn't an uncommon name and he wasn't even sure if his niece was called Annora. Her name could very well be Annabelle or Anabeth. Vernon tried not to worry about it for the rest of the day.

He left work at five o'clock but as he walked out of the building he walked straight into someone. "Sorry." Vernon mumbled. The tiny old man he walked into was wearing a brightly coloured cloak and pointy hat and he didn't seem to be upset at all by being almost knocked over. He had a wide happy smile and he spoke in an overly cheerful tone.

"There's absolutely no reason to be sorry my good sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice for You Know Who is finally gone at last! We should all be celebrating even a muggle like yourself. This is a happy, happy day my friend!" Said the tiny old man and then he walked off. Vernon quickly made his way home in a daze. He parked his car in the number four Privet drive driveway and then saw the very same tabby cat he thought he saw reading the map in the morning. The cat was now on his garden wall.

"Shoo! You silly animal." Said Vernon loudly, with his obese arms in the air. The cat didn't move an inch; it just stared at him again with its big yellow eyes. He sauntered into the house and was welcomed home by his wife. At dinner, Petunia told him all about her perfectly normal nice day and he tried to act interested and normal. And when she had put Dudley to bed, Vernon sat down in the living room and turned on the telly to watch the evening news.

"And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern," Said the news reader. "Very mysterious indeed. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Is there going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"

"Well, Ted," said the weatherman with a chuckle, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Amazing but perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early - it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."

'Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying during the day? Mysterious people walking around in cloaks and funny hats? And whispers about the Potters? What hell is going on?' Vernon thought.

"Err...Petunia; dear you haven't heard from your sister at all, have you? " Asked Vernon nervously.

"No, I haven't," She answered harshly. "Why are you asking?"

"Oh...just funny stuff on the news, shooting stars everywhere...owls...there were weirdly dressed people all over the place today."

"So? What does it have to do with my _sister_?" She replied with hatred.

"Well, I thought maybe...it was something to do with...you know...her lot," Said Vernon. "Their daughter...she'd be around Dudley's age now, won't she?"

"Yes, I guess so." She said stiffly.

"What's her name again? Anabeth or something?"

"No, Annora. Silly name."

"Oh...Annora." That was the day everyone learnt the name, Annora Potter. The Dursley's didn't speak another word on the subject of the Potters. They got into bed and Petunia fell asleep straight away, her day of gossiping and spying on the neighbours took a lot out of her but Vernon twisted and turned for what seemed like hours in bed with uneasiness. His mind going over and over what he saw and heard that day. As the night moved on sleep over took him. His last thoughts were that none of the weird things that happened would affect him and his family but only till the next morning would he learn how wrong he was. And Vernon fell asleep but tabby cat outside sat on his garden wall showed no signs of tiredness. The cat sat there all day and almost all night. It just sat there watching, waiting...

Suddenly and silently a man appeared from nowhere. The cat saw him and its eyes narrowed. The man was tall, thin and had a long silver white beard. His eyes were brilliant pale blue and sparkling with mischief. He wore long purple robes, a cloak and half moon spectacles that were on his crooked nose. It was Albus Dumbledore. He didn't seem to notice the cat watching him from the end of the street as he searched around in the pockets of his cloak for something. Suddenly, he looked at the cat and chuckled lightly.

"I should have known." Whispered Dumbledore. He then pulled his hand out of his pocket and a silver looking lighter came with it. He flipped it open, held it in the air and clicked it. The street lights went out one by one each time he clicked it. And if anyone in the houses along Privet Drive looked out of their windows now they wouldn't see a thing. Dumbledore put his light out-puter back in his cloak and walked to the wall where the tabby cat was watching him from.

"Fancy meeting you here...Professor McGonagall." Dumbledore said to the cat but the second he said that it was no longer a cat. Dumbledore was now in front of a stern looking woman who was also wearing a cloak and glasses.

"How did you know it was me?" She asked.

"Well Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."

"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day." She said.

"Why all day? You could have been celebrating like the rest of the wizarding world." Said Dumbledore.

"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating. You can't miss it," She said irritably. "You'd think maybe people would be a little bit more careful but no. Even the bloody muggles have noticed something's going on. They're all wondering what the hell is going on. It was on their news. They're not completely stupid. I mean shooting stars in Kent, whose idea was that! I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He's always been a bit of a moron."

"You can't blame them," Said Dumbledore. "We haven't had much to celebrate for the past eleven years. When the good comes embrace it."

"Oh I know, I know but we have to be careful. People are being downright careless, out on the streets not wearing muggle clothes, swapping rumours right in front of the muggles. If people keep this up it won't be too long till we get exposed but I guess one no cares, they're all _celebrating_." Said Professor McGonagall.

"Imagine It on the very day You-Know-Who disappears at last, the muggles found out about us because we were all too careless. But I suppose the rumours are true, that he really is gone, Dumbledore?" Said Professor McGonagall.

"It's seems so," Said Dumbledore. "Would you care for a sherbet lemon?"

"_A what?_"

"A sherbet lemon. They're a muggle sweet I'm rather fond of. Are you sure you don't want one, they're quite nice." Said Dumbledore.

"No, thank you." Said Professor McGonagall. "Like I was saying, even if You-Know-Who is really gone-"

"Surely a sensible person like you should call him by his name. All this You-Know-Who nonsense, his name is Voldemort. I've never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name." Said Dumbledore.

"Everyone knows that," Said Professor McGonagall. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know-...Oh bloody hell, oh alright, _Voldemort_ was frightened of... but Albus the owls are nothing to the rumours. Do you know what people are saying? About how he disappeared? Have you heard the rumours, Dumbledore?" Asked Professor McGonagall. Dumbledore didn't answer her burning question.

"People are saying that last night Voldemort went to Godric's Hollow to find the Potters. The rumours are saying that Lily and James Potter are...are...that they're..._dead_." Said Professor McGonagall. Dumbledore nodded sadly.

"Oh no, Albus. No Lily and James...I didn't want to believe it...no," Cried Professor McGonagall. "But what about their daughter, Annora? People are saying that he couldn't kill her and somehow his powers just...vanished." Dumbledore nodded again.

"Oh...Oh my God, but how!? He's one of the most powerful dark wizards to of ever of lived and he couldn't kill a little baby girl! How on earth is Annora Potter still alive?!" Said Professor McGonagall.

"We may never know." Said Dumbledore and he then took out a gold watch from his cloak and open it.

"Hagrid is late. It was him who told you I would be here, wasn't it." Said Dumbledore.

"Yes and maybe you could tell me why you're here."

"I'm here to bring Annora to the only family she has left." Said Dumbledore.

"What! To the people who live here! No you can't! Can't Annora live with Sirius or Remus? Anyone but _them_." Said Professor McGonagall.

"This is the best place for Annora. Her aunt and uncle will understand and explain everything when she is older. I've written a letter for them." Said Dumbledore.

"_A letter?! _You really believe a letter will be able to explain to _muggles _what has happened. These people will never understand, they hate our kind. Annora Potter will be famous, a legend throughout history. There will be books written about this girl, every man, woman and child in our world will know her name!"

"This is exactly why she must grow up here. She'll be famous before she can even walk. Fame can be dangerous, Professor."

"Of course, yes you're right, but how is she getting here?" Asked Professor McGonagall.

"Hagrid is bringing her."

"And you think it wise to trust him with something as important as this?"

"Ah Professor, I would trust Hagrid with my life." Said Dumbledore. At that moment a sound broke from the sky above them. The two Professors looked up and saw bright headlights getting closer and closer to the street. The huge flying motorbike fell from the sky and skid slightly on the road. A man who looked to be the size of a giant stepped off the motorbike and greeted the professors.

"Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall."Said Hagrid.

"No problems I trust Hagrid." Said Dumbledore.

"No, Sir the house was almost destroyed went I got there but I got her out alright. She was asleep in the nursery when I found her." Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall looked at the small bundle of blankets in Hagrid's large arms. They could see her long raven black hair and a red bloody scar shaped like a lightning bolt on her forehead.

"She'll have this scar forever," Said Dumbledore. "Well Hagrid give her here, we better get this over with." And Dumbledore took Annora out of Hagrids arms and walked to the Dursleys house. He laid Annora down on the doorstep and placed a letter on top of her blankets. The three of them stood there in silence for over three minutes just staring at the little raven haired bundle.

"Well that's it. We've got no business staying here any longer. We might as well go and join the celebration." Said Dumbledore.

"Yeah... well G'night Professor McGonagall, Professor Dumbledore sir." Said Hagrid. He wiped his eyes and got on to the flying motorbike and rode off into the night.

"Good night to you too Professor McGonagall. I shall see you soon." Said Dumbledore. She nodded in reply. Dumbledore turned and walked to the end to the street. At the corner, he pulled out his light out puter and clicked it once and all the light that was once gone came back to the street lamps. He looked back at the tiny bundle of blankets one last time.

"Good luck, Annora Potter." He whispered into the night. And then he was gone. Back on the doorstep of number four Privet drive Annora Potter stirred in her warm blue blankets without waking up. Completely unaware her future was now intertwined with a certain somebody and oblivious to the millions of witches and wizards who were at that very moment meeting in secret and holding up their glasses and declaring in joy _"To Annora Potter, the girl who lived!"_


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter Five**

She was dreaming again and it was as amazing as it was the last night. Annora was in a meadow of spring green grass and wild flowers. There were daisies, bluebells, poppies and hundreds more abloom. It felt so real; it was like she was really there. She could feel the warm sun on pale skin and the soft wind blowing through her raven hair. She wasn't alone in her dream; she was with the boy who was always in her dreams. The boy with raven hair and coal black eyes. His name was Tom and he was her friend. Tom was different and she didn't feel alone with him. He could also do things no one else could do and Annora trusted him but in years to come she would resent her childlike innocence for ever trusting him. She was the happiest in her dreams. He may have been in her head but didn't mean he wasn't real. He was real to her and that was all that mattered.

"Wake up! Up! Get up! Now!" And Annora woke from her lovely dream once again at the sound of her Aunt's harsh voice. Petunia beat the door again.

"Get up now! I want you to look after the bacon and don't burn it again. Everything needs to be perfect for Dudley's birthday." Annora quickly got dressed in old clothes that once belonged to Dudley, the clothes were four times bigger than Annora and they made her look smaller and skinnier than she already was. Annora looked nothing like her relatives; she had wavy black hair and bright green eyes. She often wondered if she looked like her parents but there wasn't even one picture of them and she wasn't allowed to ask. She wasn't allowed to ask questions.

When dressed, she got out of her cupboard under the stairs and went to the kitchen. From the kitchen she could see piles of Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as if a mountain had appeared over night. By the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen Annora had just begun frying the eggs. Every year that passed, Dudley looked more and more like his father. Dudley kept getting fatter and losing neck. Aunt Petunia said Dudley looked like an angle but Annora didn't see it; to her he looked like a pig in wings.

"Hurry up with that bacon girl!" Shouted Uncle Vernon. Annora put the plate of bacon and eggs on the table while Dudley was counting his Presents.

"There's only thirty six! That's two less than last year!" Yelled Dudley with his chubby pink face now a bright red. He was about to go into tantrum mode.

"Darling, you haven't counted the present from Aunt Marge and we'll also get you two new presents when we go out today. Alright, popkin?" Said Aunt Petunia.

"Oh...Okay." Said Dudley and he grabbed the nearest present and ripped it open. The telephone began to ring and Aunt Petunia went to answer it which left Annora and Uncle Vernon to watch Dudley unwrap his birthday presents. Aunt Petunia came back in the room a few moments later with an angry and worried expression.

"Bad news Vernon," Said Petunia. "Mrs Figg's broken her leg, she can't take _her_." Annora smiled secretly. Every year on Dudley's birthday Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon took him and a friend out for the day and Annora was always left with Mrs Figg, the crazy old lady who lived two streets away. It was horrible with Mrs Figg. Her house smelt of rubbish and she always made Annora look at all the cats she'd ever owned. Annora liked cats just not Mrs Figg's cats.

"Now what are we going to do with her?" Asked Aunt Petunia rudely as if Annora had planned it.

Dudley started to cry, Annora thought he looked like a giant whale when he cried. But he wasn't really crying, he was only doing it because his mother would give anything he wanted if he stopped.

"Oh Dinky Duddydums, Please don't cry, mummy won't let her spoil your day." Cried Aunt Petunia.

"I...don't...want...her...to...come...she always ruins EVERYTHING! I hate her!" He screamed. He shot Annora an evil grin through his mother's arms. Just then the doorbell rang and Dudley stopped his cry.

"Oh my lord, they're here!" Said Aunt Petunia panicked. It was Dudley's friend, Piers Polkiss and his mother. Piers was a creepy boy with face of a rat and his personally wasn't any better. He usually was the one who helped Dudley beat up kids at school.

The Dursley's couldn't think of anywhere else they could put Annora, so now she was going to zoo. For the first time in her life she was going to the zoo. Today wasn't as bad as she thought it would be but just before they left uncle Vernon pulled Annora aside.

"I'm warning you now girl, any funny business any at all and you'll be in that bloody cupboard till Christmas." He said pointing his fat finger in her face.

"I promise, I won't do anything. I promise." She replied. But Uncle Vernon didn't believe her, no one ever did. To them she was just weird stupid Annora. When they got to the zoo it was already swarming with happy families. By lunch time Dudley got bored with looking the animals and they made their way to the reptile house. It was murky and behind every glass window was a cool and exotic reptile that creped and slithered in its walls while strangers gaped at it. Within seconds Dudley found the largest snake in the place and stuck his ugly face right up against the glass. The striking giant snake was asleep which annoyed Dudley.

"Wake it up. Make it move." Declared Dudley. Uncle Vernon tapped the glass loudly.

"Get up!" Said Vernon but the snake didn't even open an eyelid.

"Oh this is so boring." Whinged Dudley and he marched off to annoy some other reptile which left Annora alone with the snake. She moved closer to the glass and looked at the snake curiously. The snake snapped its beady mystifying eyes open and looked straight at her green eyes through the glass. It raised its head up to the height Annora's was and looked at Vernon and Dudley and then looked at the ceiling. The snakes look clearly said "I get that all the time for people like that."

"I'm sorry. It must be horrible. I wish I could help," She said to the snake. "Where are you from?" The snake turned its head to a sign inside in its cage. It read _boa constrictor, Brazil. _

"Is it nice there? I'm sure you miss your family." The snake moved its head again at the sign and she read: _This specimen was bred in the zoo._

"Oh... you're like me then. I never knew my family either." Dudley came running over and pushed Annora roughly on the concrete floor.

"Get out of the way, stupid!" Said Dudley.

Annora glared at Dudley and gasped when the second she blinked the glass had vanished like it was never there. People started to scream as the giant boa constrictor slithered out of its cage. The snake slid swiftly past Annora to the exit of the reptile house and spoke.

"Thanksssss, amigo." Said the snake in a low hissing voice and it slid away forever.

On the way home Dudley was telling everyone about how the snake tried to eat his whole leg and then Piers said something that would get Annora into a lot of trouble.

"Annora was talking to the snake, weren't you Annora? I saw it." Piers said. Uncle Vernon waited until Piers went home to start on Annora.

"Cupboard. Now! And stay there. And you'll have no meals for a month!" Shouted Vernon and he then pushed her into her cupboard and slammed the door. And she was all alone again in her small cold Cupboard under the stairs.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.****  
><strong>

**Chapter Six**

It was only when the summer holidays arrived when Uncle Vernon released Annora from her cupboard under the stairs. The sun was out most days and blazing hot. Weather like this wasn't very common in Britain but was always welcome. Annora was pleased that school was over and done with for another year but that only meant there was no eluding from Dudley and his stupid gang. His friends came around to the house almost every day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm and Gordon were all as vile and ugly as Dudley, so it wasn't a surprise that they were all friends. Dudley was their leader and their favourite game to play was 'let's hunt Annora'. She didn't really enjoy that game too much. They would pull her hair and kick her legs, leaving sore bruises.

So naturally she tried her best to avoid Dudley and his gang at all costs. She spent most of her summer outside, basking in the warm summer sun just wandering around. As much Annora relished the freedom of the summer holidays she just couldn't wait for September to arrive. She would be starting secondary school which meant she would finally be away from Dudley and his dim friends. Dudley would be attending Uncle Vernon's old secondary school, Smelting's. Whereas Annora was going to the local comprehensive, Stonewall high.

In July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to buy his Smelting's uniform which left Annora with Mrs Figg, the cat lady. Mrs Figg wasn't as terrible as before though. She didn't seem as fond of her many cats when Annora visited her as she'd actually broken her leg tripping over one but she couldn't remember which one. Annora thought Mrs Figg must have hit her head after tripping or maybe there were just too many cats around to see which one did it. Overall, Mrs Figg was okay but that didn't mean her house didn't smell of rubbish and cats. That house would always smell of rubbish and cats. Later that day when Annora returned to the Dursley's house, Dudley was parading around the living room in his new stupid Smelting's uniform. 'He looks no less ugly.' Annora thought.

The next morning there was a dreadful smell in the kitchen. There was a large metal tub and the smell seemed to be originating from there. Annora walked up to it to take a quick peek. The tub was full of filthy rags that were soaking in grey murky water.

"What's that?" Annora asked. Aunt Petunia stiffened her lips and narrowed her eyes in discontent.

"It's your new school uniform." Aunt Petunia replied.

"Doesn't look new to me." Annora mumbled. Fortunately, Aunt Petunia didn't hear her. "Am I going to have to wear it drenched to school?"

"Don't be stupid, girl," Petunia snapped. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old clothes for you. It will look just like everyone else's when I'm done."

"Great." She said, sarcastically. Annora knew all too well that wasn't true but didn't say anything else back as she knew what would happen. She tried not to think about what she would look like on her first day of secondary school. She was dreading it already.

Uncle Vernon and Dudley came down to the kitchen for breakfast with their noses wrinkled in disgust from the smell of Annora's "new" school uniform. But they didn't say anything about it. Uncle Vernon began to read his newspaper like he always did and Dudley smacked his Smelting's stick, which was part of his school uniform, on the table. Annora rolled her green eyes at her annoying cousin. There was the click of the letter box and the flop of letters on the doormat. The post had arrived.

"Get the post, Dudley." Uncle Vernon said from behind his newspaper.

"Make Annora get it." Dudley said immaturely.

"Get the post, Annora."

"Why? Make Dudley get it." She said.

"Get the post, now. Annora." Uncle Vernon demanded. Annora huffed in annoyance and got out of her chair to collect the post. On the door mat there were three things: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was just as horrid as Vernon and was holidaying in the Isle of Wight, a bill was also there and ... a letter for Annora.

'A letter for me. No, that can't be right.' She thought. She picked up the thick, heavy envelope in disbelief. 'Why would anyone write to me? This letter can't be for me.' Yet in weird emerald-green ink was a letter addressed to her:

_Miss A. Potter_

_The Cupboard under the Stairs _

_4 Privet Drive_

_Little whinging _

_Surrey _

'How did they know I sleep under the stairs? 'She thought. With her small hands trembling, she turned over the envelope and saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake were surrounding a large letter 'H'.

"Hurry up with the post, girl!" Uncle Vernon shouted from the kitchen. "It doesn't take all day." Annora went back into the kitchen with her letter. She handed Uncle Vernon the bill and postcard, then sat back down and opened her only ever letter. Vernon looked over his bill and moved on to the postcard.

"Ah, Marge's ill," He informed Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk." Dudley spotted Annora with her letter.

"Dad, Look!" Shouted Dudley, suddenly. "Dad! Annora's got a letter!" The letter was ripped out of Annora hands just as she was about to begin reading its contents.

"Hey! That letter is mine." Said Annora.

"And who would write to you?" Sneered Uncle Vernon. He glanced at the letter and his face went from its normal hideous red to a sickly green faster than Annora could blink.

"P-P-Petunia. Come quick." He gasped. Petunia took the letter from his hand curiously and read till her face went ashen. She looked ready to drop dead from fright.

"Oh my God! Vernon! Oh no." Vernon and Petunia started at each other in terror and seemed to forget about Annora and Dudley. Annora looked at them in confusion and curiously.

"I want to read that letter." Ordered Dudley.

"No, it's mine. If anyone is going to read that letter it should be me." Annora said, furiously.

"Get out. The both of you." Croaked Uncle Vernon.

"No! I want my letter!" Annora shouted.

"No. Let me see the letter." Demanded Dudley.

"OUT!" Roared Uncle Vernon, he grabbed Dudley and Annora and threw them both out into the hall, then slammed the kitchen door behind him. Annora was on the floor listing in to what they were saying between the crack at the bottom of the door.

"Look at the address, Vernon," Said Aunt Petunia in a quivering voice. "How could they possible know where she sleeps? They must be watching us."

"Yes, watching, spying. They might even be following us everywhere we go." Said Uncle Vernon, madly.

"What should we do? Maybe we should write and tell them we don't want-"

"No," He said. "No we won't do that. We'll just ignore it. Yes. We won't do anything and they'll go away."

"But shouldn't we just-" Uncle Vernon interrupted her.

"No. We swore when we took her in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense and that's exactly what we're going to do."

* * *

><p>That evening, Uncle Vernon visited Annora in her cupboard under the stairs.<p>

"What did you do with my letter?" Said Annora. "And who's writing to me? I want to know."

"No one is writing to you. It was addressed to you by mistake and that's it," Said Uncle Vernon sharply. "I have burnt the letter."

"What? That letter was mine and it wasn't a mistake." She replied angrily. "They knew about my cupboard."

"Silence!" Barked Uncle Vernon. He took a few deep breaths, calmed down and forced a painful smile on his face.

"Annora, your Aunt and I have been thinking... that you have been getting a bit too big for your cupboard now. We believe it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom."

"Why?"

"Be quiet and don't ask questions," He snapped at her. "Take all this stuff upstairs right now."

There were four bedrooms in the Dursley's house: One for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors that never came to stay, one room where Dudley slept and one where Dudley kept his mountain of toys he had accumulated over the many years of being spoiled rotten.

Annora didn't have much so it only took one trip upstairs to move everything she possessed into her new room. It was just a few tattered books, couple of drawings and her ugly baggy clothes that once belonged to Dudley. The room was small and full of Dudley's unwanted broken toys. Annora lay back on the single bed in the corner of the room. It wasn't the comfiest bed in the world but it would do, it was better than being confined to the cupboard under the stairs. She gradually fell to sleep and dreamt of coal black eyes.

* * *

><p>At breakfast the next morning, everyone was unusually quiet well apart from Dudley who screamed and also smacked his father with his Smelting's stick because Annora got his second bedroom. Dudley had been behaving like the rotten child he was all yesterday evening too, screaming and flinging helpless object around the room. Yet no matter how hard he cried, screamed and yelled his mother and father tried their best to just ignore the little prat, which was a rare sight indeed.<p>

When the post came, Uncle Vernon made Dudley go and fetch it for some reason but Annora wasn't complaining. Dudley stomped his feet and beat his Smelting's stick along the hall. Annora heard him shout from the front door.

"There's another letter, dad. _Miss A. Potter, the Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive_..." Uncle Vernon sprinted from his chair with a repressed howl. Annora scampered after her letter. Uncle Vernon, Dudley and Annora all fought over the letter but Vernon snatched the letter away and ripped it into a million pieces. Annora watched her letter plummet to the floor; once again it slipped from her grasp.

"Go to your rooms, both of you." Gasped out Uncle Vernon. Annora walked back up to her bedroom, defeated. 'Who ever sent me those letters know I moved out of my cupboard. But how?' She thought. 'They must really want me to read this letter.'

On Friday, at least twelve letters that were all addressed to Miss A. Potter were delivered to the Dursley's home. Uncle Vernon burned every single letter and then he nailed the letterbox and the cracks around the front door so no letters could get it. But the mysterious letters kept on arriving. The next day, twenty-four letters somehow made it inside of the house. Uncle Vernon made furious phone calls to the post office and Aunt Petunia collected the letters and shredded them in her food mixer.

"Who on earth wants to talk to _you_ this badly?" Dudley asked Annora in amazement.

"I wish I knew." She said.

* * *

><p>It was Sunday morning, and everyone was in the living room. Annora was serving cookies when she saw something fly past out of the corner of her eye.<p>

"Fine day Sunday. No post on Sundays." Uncle Vernon said, happily. Annora drew the curtains back a bit only to see hundreds of owls perched all along Privet Drive. She gawked in astonishment. There were barn owls, snowy owls, long-eared owls, short-eared owls, small owls and big owls. They were perched on neighbours cars, the house, the fences, the gates and the trees, not a single area not covered in owls. They were watching and waiting.

"No damn letters today-" Suddenly a letter shot down the living room chimney and whizzed across Uncle Vernon's red face in mid sentence. Then there was a thunderous rumble that shook the house and then hundreds and hundreds of letters came showering down the chimney like rain which filled the living room in seconds. The Dursley's screamed but Annora jumped on to the coffee table and she managed to catch one of her letters, finally. She sprinted to the hallway but Uncle Vernon stopped her before she could escape with her letter.

"Give me that!" Uncle Vernon screeched. "Give me that letter." As they fought over the letter.

"NO! It's my letter!" Annora screamed back. Uncle Vernon seized the letter from her hands.

"That is it! We're going away! Very far away! Where they can't find us!" Uncle Vernon wheezed out with a crazed look on his face.

"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked his mother fearfully.

* * *

><p>The Dursley's and Annora spent hours travelling, trying to escape the letters. They ended up on a large rock out at sea with a weary looking shack on the border of it. The shack was built out of decayed wood and the wind screeched through the tiny fractures. The air smelt damp and putrid. Uncle Vernon couldn't start a fire as they didn't have any wood which left the shack freezing at night.<p>

Night came and a nasty storm came with it. The fierce wind projected the icy waves onto the rock and the shack, causing the wooden structure to creak. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia slept on the bumpy bed next door and Dudley was given the moth-eaten sofa with a couple of aged blankets. Annora's bed was the floor and her blanket was the thinnest. The storm rampaged through the night and Annora couldn't sleep. She twisted and turned on the dirty rock floor. The storm wasn't the only reason she couldn't sleep. Tomorrow was the 31st of July, her birthday. Her eleventh birthday. She looked to the dial of Dudley's watch which was dangling on the edge of the sofa from his chubby wrist. Five minutes to midnight. She wondered if the Dursley's would even remember.

'Probably not. No one ever does.' She thought. Her birthday ticked ever closer as she daydreamed of the letter-writer. She had seconds to go and then she would be eleven. Three, two, one- BOOM!

The whole shack shook and juddered, Annora leapt from the rigid floor staring at the feeble door. That was a knock at the door and someone was outside.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter Seven**

BOOM. The person outside knocked again. Dudley jolted awake from his slumber.

"Where's the cannon?" He asked stupidly. Uncle Vernon came scuttling into the room with a rifle in his hands. Aunt Petunia was cowering behind him with pink curlers in her hair.

"Who's there?" Uncle Vernon asked pathetically. "I'm armed."

The stranger outside paused and then... SMASH. The wooden door swung straight off its weak hinges to land in the middle of the room. The stranger stood in the narrow doorway was a giant. He had to squeeze his way through into the hut and keep his head low so he didn't hit it on the ceiling. The strangers face was engulfed in a shaggy mane of dark wild hair and a tousled beard. The only features on his face you could make out clearly were the large black beetle eyes.

"Sorry 'bout that." The giant said and he bent down to pick the door up and then placed it back into its frame. He looked at the Durleys.

"You couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been a very easy journey..." The stranger strode to the sofa where Dudley was sat frozen at the sight of the giant.

"Budge up, would yeh? You great lump." Said the stranger. Dudley whimpered and scampered behind his mother who was just as terrified. The giant looked towards Annora now.

"An' there you are Annora." The man's fierce wild face was creased into a wide smile.

"Last time I saw you, you was only a tiny baby," The giant said. "Yeh look so much like yeh mum and dad. Got yeh mum's eyes but yeh dad's hair."

"You knew my parents?" Annora asked softly but Uncle Vernon interrupted before she could get an answer.

"I demand you leave at once, sir." Uncle Vernon cried. "This is breaking and entering!"

"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune." Said the man and he effortlessly twisted the gun upwards as if it had been rubber. The stranger turned back to Annora.

"Annora got something for yeh. I might have sat on it at some point, but it'll taste just the same. Happy birthday." He pulled from a pocket on his bulky overcoat a somewhat squashed box and handed it to Annora. The man walked over to the fireplace and a second later there was a roaring fire in the damp hut. Annora opened the box with wavering hands and a pounding heart. It was a large chocolate cake and written in sticky green icing was _Happy Birthday Annora. _

"Thank you. No one has ever given me a birthday cake before." She said gratefully and placed the cake on the table. "But who are you?"

"Rubeus Hagrid, call me Hagrid, the Keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts. Course, you'll know all about Hogwarts."

"No, sorry. What's Hogwarts?" She asked timidly. Hagrid looked utterly shocked.

"_Sorry!_" Hagrid barked. He pointed to the Dursleys who shrivelled back into the shadows of the hut. "It's this lot that should be the sorry ones. Blimey, Annora, did yeh never wonder where yer parents learnt it all?"

"Learnt what?" Annora asked.

"LEARNT WHAT!" Bellowed Hagrid. "Do you mean to tell me," He growled at the Dursleys. "That this girl - this girl, Annora Potter - knows nothin' abou'- well about anything!"

"I do know some things," Annora said looking down at the floor slightly embarrassed. "I'm all right at school."

"No. About our world. Your world. My world. _Yer parents world_. You must know something about that? About yer mum and dad? I mean...they're famous..._you're famous_." Said Hagrid.

"No my parents weren't famous. They weren't...weren't they?" Said Annora, hesitantly.

"Yeh don't know...yeh don't know, do yeh?" Said Hagrid as he ran his giant hand through his messy hair. "Yeh don't know what you are, do yeh Annora?"

"What do you mean?" Annora asked.

Uncle Vernon darted out of the shadows then. "Stop this madness right now, sir! I forbid you to tell the girl anything." Uncle Vernon ordered.

"Yeh never told her? All these years she has been kept in the dark. Never once told her what was in that letter Dumbledore left for her? I saw that letter. I was there when Dumbledore left it. She needs to know the truth." Yelled Hagrid.

"_The truth?_ Please tell me." Said Annora impatiently.

"STOP! She will not know. I forbid you to tell her!" Shouted Uncle Vernon in panic.

"Oh, shut yer face Dursley!" Said Hagrid and he glanced down at Annora's green hopeful eyes.

"You're a witch, Annora." Everybody was entirely silent after that and the noise of the storm outside filled the hut once again. Annora's little heart beat furiously.

"I-I'm a _what_?" Whispered Annora with wide-eyes.

"Yeh a witch, of course," Said Hagrid, sitting down on the moth eaten sofa. "An' a thumping good one at that, I'd say. Once yeh've been trained up a little. With a mum and dad like yours there's no doubt you'll be a great witch, just you see. An' I suppose its abou' time you read yer letter. Here yer go." Hagrid pluck out her letter from one of his pockets and Annora gently took it from his out stretched hand. And in emerald green ink was a letter addressed to _Miss A. Potter, the Floor, Hut-on-the-Rocks, the Sea. _Annora ripped open the envelope and began to read:

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY_

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore_

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand sorc, Chf, Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards) _

_Dear Miss Potter,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on the 1__st __of __September. We await your owl by no later than the 31__st __of July. _

_Yours sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall _

_Deputy Headmistress_

Annora still couldn't believe it; her head was boiling with millions of questions. 'This must be a dream, a mad one too. Or some kind of joke.' She thought.

"What do they mean by they await my owl." She asked Hagrid.

"Merlin, that reminds me." Said Hagrid, and from yet another mysterious pocket inside his gigantic overcoat he pulled out an owl...a real breathing owl with a long quill and roll of parchment. He started to scribble on the parchment and Annora could just about read it from where she was stood.

_Dear Mr Dumbledore, _

_I've given Annora her letter. Taking her to buy her things tomorrow. Weather's terrible. Hope you're well. _

_Hagrid _

Hagrid rolled up the parchment, gave it to the owl which clamped its beak and it flew right out into the stormy night.

"Right, where was I?" Said Hagrid but Uncle Vernon moved forwards towards the fireplace looking livid.

"She will not be going." Uncle Vernon said.

"Yeah, I'd like to see a great muggle like you stop her." Replied Hagrid.

"Muggle?" Questioned Annora, fascinated.

"Non-magic folk like them. An' it's bad luck that you had to grow up in a family of the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on."

"We swore when we took her in we'd put a stop to that folly," Exclaimed Uncle Vernon. "We'd stamp it out of her!"

"You knew! All this time and you both knew," Said Annora. "That I'm- I'm a witch."

"_Knew!" _Shrieked Aunt Petunia abruptly. "Well of course we knew! How could you not be? My _perfect_ sister being who she was, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that-_ that school-_and came back home every holiday with her pockets full of frog-spawn, and turning teacups into rats. Oh, my mother and father were just so proud. We had a witch in the family, how wonderful? I was the only one to see her for what she was. A _freak!_"

Aunt Petunia took a deep mouthful of air and carried on with her ranting as if she had been waiting to say this all these long years.

"Then she met that _Potter_ at school, got married and had _you_. Oh and I knew you'd be just the same as them, just as strange, just as...abnormal. And then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up! And we got landed with you!"

Annora stood paralysed, face ashen. "Blown up?" Breathed Annora. "You said they died in a car crash!" She then shouted at her Uncle and Aunt.

"A CAR CRASH!" Roared Hagrid, jumping up off the sofa. "A car crash kill Lily and James Potter! It's an outrage! A scandal! Annora bloody Potter not knowing her own story when every kid in our world knows her name!"

"Why do people know who I am? What happened to my parents? Please tell me." Annora said, urgently. The anger washed away from Hagrid's face and anxiousness replaced it in seconds.

"See, I never expected this to happen, Annora," Said Hagrid in a troubled tone of voice. "I had no idea how much yeh didn't know, well, about yeh own story. But I guess someone's gotta tell yeh. Yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'." Hagrid sat gently down on the sofa and Annora sat next to him.

"Right, first and you need to understand this, Annora, 'cause it's very important. Not all witches and wizards are good. Some of them go bad, really bad. See, there was this wizard who went bad. Well more than bad. He was the worse of them all."

"Who? Who was he?" Annora asked.

"I don't like saying his name. No one in the wizarding world says his name."

"But why? It's just a name."

"Gulpin' gargoyles, Annora, people are still terrified of him and for a good reason too." Hagrid said. "His name was...was..." But no name came out.

"Maybe you could write the name down?" Annora suggested.

"No, I can't spell it...okay. All right, I'll say it. His name was _Voldemort_." Hagrid whispered his name and trembled. "Don't make me say it again."

"This wizard, about twenty years ago now, started to gather some followers. Some were afraid, some just wanted a bit of his power and he was powerful. It's was dark times, Annora, dark times. Didn't know who ter trust, you didn't dare get friendly with any strange wizards or witches... Terrible things happened if yer did. He was takin' over. Anyone that stood up to him ended up dead. Hogwarts was one of the only safe places left. Reckon Dumbledore is the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. He didn't dare try taking the school, not while Dumbledore was there."

"An' yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head Girl an' Boy at Hogwarts in their day. I knew them well; yer folks were the nicest people you could find." Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very filthy, speckled handkerchief and blew his nose.

"Sorry but it's sad," He said. "They fought against You-Know-Who. On Halloween ten years ago, he turned up in the village you was all living in and came into yer house and...He...he killed 'em. Nobody lived once he decided to kill 'em. Nobody...not one. Except you, Annora."

"Me? _Voldemort _tried to kill...me?" Annora whispered.

"Yes but he couldn't do it, no one really knows why. That mark on your forehead ain't no ordinary cut. A mark like that only comes from being touched by a curse and a powerful, evil one at that. You-Know-Who killed some of the best witches and wizards of the age- the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts and you was only a year old, an' you lived."

Annora's mind went distance and she could vaguely remember a flash of bright green light, strangely familiar dark eyes and the touch of a cold hand. Hagrid watched her sadly.

"But what happened to Vol-...to You-know-Who?" Annora asked.

"He disappeared, vanished into thin air. Same night he tried to kill you. Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. No. Most of us reckon he's still out there, somewhere, too tired to go on. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause something about you stopped him. I dunno what happened, no one does, maybe we'll never know but something about you stumped him that night. That's why you're famous, Annora. That's why everybody in our world knows your name. You're the girl who lived."

Hagrid looked at Annora with admiration and respect but she didn't feel proud, she felt dread setting in.

"Hagrid," She said quietly, ashamed. "I think you've made a mistake. I can't be a...a witch."

Hagrid chuckled lightly. "Not a witch? Did you ever make anything happen? Anything you couldn't explain when you were angry or scared?" Hagrid asked.

Annora thought back to whenever she was angry or scared and every time something weird and unexplainable happened to her. And every time it would make Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia furious with her because they knew what it was. It was magic. Annora smiled at Hagrid happily and saw he was beaming back at her.

"See?" Said Hagrid. "Annora Potter, not a witch, that's the maddest thing I ever heard. Just you wait; you'll be right famous at Hogwarts." But Uncle Vernon had other ideas.

"I have told you she won't be going." Uncle Vernon hissed. "She'll be going to Stonewall high and she'll be grateful for it too. I've read those foolish letters and she needs all sorts of rubbish. Spell books and wands and-"

"If she wants to go to Hogwarts she'll go, a great muggle like you won't stop her. " Hagrid growled. "Yer won't stop Lily an' James Potter's daughter goin' ter Hogwarts. This girls name has been down ever since she was born. She's goin' to the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world, and she'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts' has ever seen, Albus Dumbledore."

"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HER MAGIC TRICKS!" Uncle Vernon yelled but he had gone too far. Hagrid clutched his umbrella and pointed it at the Dursleys.

"NEVER INSULT ALBUS DUMBLEDORE IN FRONT OF ME!" The umbrella created a flash of violet light and then the next second Dudley had a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon both started to scream and run around after Dudley who was howling in pain. Annora let out a small giggle at the hysterical family.

"Oh, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone at Hogwarts about that." Said Hagrid. "Strictly speaking, I'm not allowed to do magic."

"Why aren't you allowed to use magic?" Asked Annora, curiously.

"I went to Hogwarts myself but I got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand as well. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore is." Said Hagrid.

"Why were you expelled?"

"It's getting late, Annora, and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," Said Hagrid loudly, avoiding the question. "We've got to get yeh books an' that for school." He took off his thick black coat and gave it to Annora.

"Here, you can kip under this, don't panic if it wriggles a bit. There might still be a couple of dormice in one of the pockets. Now you best get some sleep, we've got a busy day tomorrow." That night Annora fell asleep with a smile on her face.


End file.
